


even when she's next to me

by gentlerepose



Series: Wayhaven Week 2020 [1]
Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: F/F, Pre-Relationship, yearningTM
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25226230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentlerepose/pseuds/gentlerepose
Summary: “Are you alright?”Juniper’s eyes flick open as she jolts, having forgotten she’s a. not alone in the car and b. sitting in the passenger seat so c. someone else is driving. She cranes her neck to peer at d. Ava du Mortain.Or Juniper admires, wants, and only watches, in the space of a car that's not hers and next to a woman who is also not hers.
Relationships: Female Detective/Ava du Mortain
Series: Wayhaven Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827598
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	even when she's next to me

The rising sun would be beautiful if Juniper’s eyes weren’t so exhausted. She can feel her headache spike like little needles piercing her skull and she clenches her eyes shut, seeing splotches of color where the light had burned into her vision.

“Are you alright?”

Juniper’s eyes flick open as she jolts, having forgotten she’s a. not alone in the car and b. sitting in the passenger seat so c. someone else is driving. She cranes her neck to peer at d. Ava du Mortain. Even through Juniper’s bleary, spotted vision, Ava looks beautiful in the rising light, which is not a surprise since she would look gorgeous in a creepy basement with a single bare bulb hanging. But in the warm honey sunrise, her pale skin seems to glow and the blonde strands around her face reflect gold. _It’s really unfair,_ Juniper thinks with a sigh, knowing she herself must look like a mess: her cute two buns fell away sometime during the impromptu monkey-in-the-middle with Farah and Morgan over Juniper's phone, and she's sure she has pizza sauce smeared _somewhere_ on her cheek that she cannot find.

“Detective?” Ava’s eyes, a shade of green Juniper’s never seen before, glance over. They’re narrowed and piercing and oh, she sounded very worried, hadn’t she?

“I’m fine!” Juniper winces at the crack in her voice, like a ship splitting in half and about to sink fast. She shifts in her seat and puts more energy in her voice, “I’m just tired, is all. Thank you for driving me home. Again.” She’s almost afraid to call it a habit, in case Ava would withdraw like she does all the time and do something like ask Morgan to drive her. Juniper had experienced Morgan’s driving once and that was more than enough for a lifetime, the thought makes her shiver and Ava, without a word, turns on the heater. It's a rather cold fall night after all so Ava obviously must feel it more.

Anyway, she would stop seeing Ava like this, warm and soft in the sunrise, her hands kept steady and exact on the wheel but her fingers will tap just slightly to whatever’s playing on the radio, like an involuntary twitch. She would stop seeing Ava’s small, private smile when Juniper curls up in the passenger seat. She wouldn’t see her shoulders come down and relax in the quiet, in the familiarity of driving down the empty road, sunglasses hanging off her shirt’s collar.

A relaxation that’s lost as Ava straightens up like a soldier coming to attention, eyes back on the road despite it being as empty as it always is. “It is nothing, detective. However, you should be more aware of the time, you need your rest.” The  _ because you’re a squishy human _ is unsaid but evident in Ava’s tone and the pinch of her mouth. _Here we go again._

Juniper huffs, rolling her eyes. “Oh yes, because you continuing to argue with me was _so_ encouraging for me to remember the time.” She’s never been one for debating, she hates conflict and tends to back down if it feels too heated. But Ava brings it out in her, the fire in her eyes is just too infectious, too beautiful and Juniper feels her heart soar whenever she gets a good word in and Ava smiles then scowls as if just remembering they were  _ arguing _ and she needs to  _ win  _ even though it was over the possibility of a unicorn being real. It's so very adorable.

A smile much like the one on Ava’s face, gentle and small as if unconscious. “I suppose you have a point.” Her face softens with that smile and Juniper’s hands on her lap curl with the ache to reach out and touch. It wouldn’t be unwelcome, even Juniper’s not dense enough to miss how Ava looks at her, how she gets these smiles and offers to be driven home despite fully being able to herself. “But I don’t think any person could blame me.”

“Oh?” Juniper sees her apartment building come into view, like an approaching shark’s fin. “I’m sure they might once they learn of your competitiveness.”

Ava snorts, easing them around the corner with a precision Juniper envies since she always clips that stupid curb. “I simply don’t like to lose, no one should.” 

Juniper giggles and stretches, making sure to brush back her dark curls as she does so because it always catches Ava’s attention. She pushes down the excited flutter of her heart at the flick of intense green eyes trailing down her and acts nonchalant as she gathers her bag. “It’s not that you hate losing, you love  _ winning _ . You get all smug when you get a witty quip in.”

“I do not.” Despite the shortness in how she says it, Ava’s gaze after Juniper hops out of the car and turns back to look at her is… It makes her heart thud for a different reason this time, reminding her of Verda’s words in the office as he watched them.

It feels like an eternity and Juniper sees Ava’s hands clench around the wheel the second before her voice, low and quiet, rumbles out, “Winning is nothing compared to the sight of you so passionate and vibrant.” There’s no time to respond before the walls slam back up and Juniper feels her breath catch at Ava’s hardening eyes, like pools freezing over, before they vanish behind her sunglasses. “Sleep well, detective.”

“Thank you, Ava,” Juniper says, soft like the air had been punched out of her, and drops her hand from the door despite everything in her desperately wanting to crawl back in and kiss her until the sun set. But one thing about caring about someone is to being able to read their signs, even when it goes against what they both may want. Perhaps someone else would call her out on running away again, perhaps they would be right for it. But Juniper is not that person.

She only smiles, fragile and with the confidence all her trembling heart can muster, and breaks their shared stare to head inside. When she looks back just before the door shuts, Juniper catches those pair of aviators still facing her and she doesn’t bother fighting her pleased smile that stays all the way until she crashes into her bed and dreams of many sunrises.

**Author's Note:**

> me opening to post this: let's GOOO  
> me seeing "Work Title": oh no
> 
> anyways the title is from "she" by dodie who's got my back when i was frantically googling song lyrics. here's my lovely girl juniper corvi who you'll be seeing more of this week because i finally got myself to participate in a fandom week thing. hopefully i get a longer piece out with her bc she does live in my head rent free with her buff, stoic vampire wife.  
> if there's any mistakes, please let me know!


End file.
